Crisis Communication Theories (Chaper 2)
10 myths of crisis communication By Sean Nguyen * Crisies builds character ** Actually reveals character ** How one responds to crisis ** Perception of one after crisis * Crisies don't have positive value ** People bond and work together ** Figuring out how to prevent future crisis * Determine responsibility and blame ** Doesn't solve problem ** not the core issue * Primarily get info to stakeholders ** Communicate to receive aid ** Receive communication from stakeholders * Invoke taking a defensive stance ** Defensive behind decisions ** Must make necessary changes * Enacting elaborate prefabricated plan ** Crisies can be unpredictable ** Plan for multiple situations * Over assuring public of impact to avoid panic ** Makes situation more unbelievable ** makes crisis more uncertain * Communicate only new info ** Meta talk about the issue ** balance between communicate info and stonewalling * Managing image and reputation of organization ** Analyze value of org. ** Actions speak louder than words * Spin the facts ** Framed version of the truth ** unethical/irresponsible ** Communicator must be trust worthy ** Word choice can frame org. identity Media Theories By: Javier Mancha News Framing Theory * Reporters and editors choose the angle of stories involving crisis. * Media can polarize a crisis, often intensifying the public's fear, making organization's involvement more imperative. * failure to communicate leads to undesired angle aggravate crisis. * Exemplars: graphic/emotional journalistic narratives that exaggerates the seriousness of an event. Focusing Events * An extension of agenda setting theory * Crisis moves to "focusing events" when events is high in agenda and topic moves from cause and impact to policy management and implementation * Woods 4 Attributes of Commonality for Focusing Events *# Crisis occurs suddenly *# They are rare *# They garner large scale attention *# Public and policy makers both prioritize them * Policy talk from Focusing Events stem from *# Blame- Human or mechanical? *# Normality- Extent of Frequency *# Learning- Central to policy debates Crisis News Diffusion * Media plays role in diffusing/spreading public interest * Crisis News Diffusion seeks to find how/when people receive information * Social Media addresses void of information during a crisis Organizational Theories Corporate Apologia * Not an apology, but a compelling competing account of accusations * Apologetic crisis is when corporate actors accuse other organizations of guilt in a crisis * Stratagies include: denial, counter attacks, differentiation, apology and legal * Designed for an organization to account for its actions after crisis Situational Crisis Communication Theory * Evaluates repetitional threat posed by a crisis and suggests strategies to take based on risk level * 4 major communication approaches: denial, diminishment, rebuilding, bolstering * 3 crisis types *# Victim cluster- natural disasters, rumors, malevolence *# Accidental cluster- Challenges, technocal error, accident/harm *# Preventable cluster- Human error, organization misdeed * After crisis, stakeholders assign responsibility for negative unexpected events Discourse of Renewal Theory * Discourse of Renewal Theory is based on opportunities from crisis organizational learning * organizations that emerge successfully must learn ethical communication * orgs that don't prepare, to are unethical in their practices are going to have to respond sooner or later * crisis doesn't build character, it reveals it perspective vs retrospective vision (renewing) * communication focused on future, not past * image and reputation = retrospective = focus on blame * renewing = prospective = learning from mistakes, communicate with optimism and stress rebuilding effective organization rhetoric * leadership with optimism and commitment to communicating ethically, moving beyond the crisis Describe, Explain, Prescribe Use the following theories to address the following: * media theories: framing, focusing and agenda setting * Corp. apologia/image repair: common responses/effectiveness * situational crisis theory: strategies to protect reputation * discourse of renewal: effective responses ** response focused on reputation often extend the lifecycle on a crisis (this is known and "Threat Bias" Threat Bias * Balance of threat and opportunity has better potential to prevail * author of textbook suggest mindfulness of inclusive perspective